Chicago

October 18, 2009

The people of Chicago, that stormy, husky, brawling kind of town, sure
know how to tie on the feed bag. Has any other American city patented
so many signature foods? There's deep-dish pizza, smoky Polish
sausages, Italian beef sandwiches au jus, and, of course, the classic
Chicago-style hot dog: pure Vienna Beef on a warm poppy-seed bun with
mustard, relish, pickled peppers, onions, tomato slices, a quartered
dill pickle and a dash of celery salt. Alter the formula (or ask for
ketchup) and you can head right back to Coney Island, pal. For better
or worse, it was Chicago that transformed the Midwest's vast bounty of
grains, livestock and dairy foods into Kraft cheese, Cracker Jack and
Oscar Mayer wieners. And in recent years, emerging from its role as
chuck wagon to the masses, Chicago finally bulled its way into the
hallowed precincts of haute cuisine, led by renowned chefs Charlie
Trotter, Rick Bayless and Grant Achatz, who's one of the forerunners of
a movement known as molecular gastronomy. "They hate the term, but
that's how people refer to it," says Mike Sula, a food columnist for
the weekly Chicago Reader. "They like to call it 'techno-emotional cuisine.'" But does it taste good? "Oh yeah," he says.

Poets from all over Canada touched down in NYC yesterday for a weekend of readings to celebrate the inaugural volume of The Best Canadian Poetry in English. Lets give our neighbors a warm welcome! We met last night at the Canadian Consulate in mid-town, where there was much cheer and excitement. Molly Peacock initiated the series, which is modeled on The Best American Poetry. Celebrated poet Stephanie Bolster selected the poems in this volume. These fine poets will read this evening at the NYU Friday Happy Hour Series (5:00 PM, Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, 58 West 10th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues) and at The Bowery Poetry Club (308 Bowery, at Bleecker St) on Saturday at 2:00 PM. Both events are free.

The Art Institute is the third stop of The Poetry Foundation's Chicago Poetry tour, a walk (and a free podcast) through the city's architecture, history, and of course, the poems it has inspired. Since I was staying at the Palmer House, I was able to hit six stops of the downtown leg, with the voices of Gwendolyn Brooks and Albert Goldbarth in my head. Also Wilco and Coltrane, but they were already in my ipod. Take the tour online or download it here. It's pretty stellar, especially when you're wandering along South Michigan Ave.

I love Chicago. Regal and humble, it's such a grand American city, and I mean that in all the right ways. I zipped in for a Wednesday to Thursday stay, thanks to the Guild Literary Complex and the Palabra Pura reading series, which pairs Latino poets from the area with those of us who live elsewhere.

I read with Jacob Saenz (left), among other writers, and it was fortifying to meet and dine with artists and publishers who were spreading the good word from the enclave of Pilsen. With its murals of heroes and saints, and its tiny bodegas, the area reminded me of my own nearby nabes of Little Havana and Hialeah. Somos hermanos, todos.

Tonight is Palabra Pura's July installment, featuring Maria Melendez (Momotombo Press) and Luis Humberto Valadez. Drop in early at Decima Musa and order the cheese enchiladas. They go quite well with poems. Reading details are here.